Vocal Beats Academy Vol. 1

"In 2023, before Co Labs became its own organisation we were a project run by Stac. We all met Stac while we were in-patients at Royal Marsden. Stac works for an amazing team called Vocal Beats, which provides music making sessions for young patients on Rose Ward at Royal Brompton and on the Teenange and Young Adults Teenage Cancer Trust ward, and paediatrics at Royal Marsden. Stac and Zani came to cheer me up and at first I thought "no thanks!" but after speaking to them for a while they convinced me to let them play me a song. It was actually really good. I was humming along and Stac said "You can sing can't you!" We sang a couple of songs together and that was it. Being in hospital is not fun, but there were moments like this that I would look forward to each week."

Vocal Beats Academy launched in 2022 as an offshoot project to award-nominated music-making programme Vocal Beats for hospitalised young people at Royal Brompton Hospital and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Following years of hospital-based working, it became clear that young people who had taken part wanted to continue developing their music after completing their treatment. This led to 10 weeks of rehearsals and creative planning, culminating in a fantastic showcase of talent at The Roundhouse, Camden. The young artists who took part inspired the audience, and formed lifelong friendships.

This year we have teamed up once again with The Roundhouse. Our Vocal Beats Academy artists spent their summers writing, rehearsing, co-producing and recording their own body of work at the Roundhouse Recording Studios, taking full advantage of their Creative Studio Membership scheme for young people aged 16-25. Working with our Grammy-nominated and professional musicians, our young people have created a piece of work that deserves your attention, not because of the factor that draws them all together, but in spite of it.

These young artists are full of life, creativity and arresting talent, reminding us of the true power of music.